Sensor error message

jaywak

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742
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
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Cold weather, angry people, queues,
Does anybody else notice that if their bg is either rising or lowering very quickly they get the sensor error message on their Libre , when it slows down and gets back to normal it seems to work fine again .
 

Westley

Well-Known Member
Messages
194
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Yes, and it's rather annoying!
When using other non official apps you can see that the sensor is still providing readings during these periods.

When viewing the raw data, you can see that the sensor does occasionally glitch and give a single completely off reading (maybe due to the filament shifting in the skin?), and it seems that for LibreLink whenever it detects a change between subsequent readings above some threshold, or a sudden change in direction, it just stops providing any readings at all to the user for a while, to avoid them making decisions based on erroneous information.
The problem with this approach is that sometimes these rapid changes are *not* glitches, but real blood sugar changes, and it's at these times that readings can become especially useful in eg knowing when to stop treating a hypo after it's turned around.
If using another app it's usually fairly obvious when a reading is a glitch, but Abbott don't trust us to be able to tell the difference.

I feel the same way about the extrapolation it does - it's dumbed down in a bad way that actually makes it significantly worse. Instead of trusting users to understand there's a delay between real blood values and the sensor values from interstitial fluid, it extrapolates forward to guess the true value 'now', but without showing what part is extrapolated.
 

In Response

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,485
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Yes. This is a common "issue".
I believe it is due to the way Libre estimates the current BG given the delay between blood and interstitial fluid readings.
Libre estimates the current value by extrapolating the current trend but if this is changing fast, it may not be suitable to use this (the trend may not be trending for long).

If you are a new Libre user, i strongly recommend reading the threads describing the limitations such as this one.
 
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Zinadane

Well-Known Member
Messages
289
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I think we should just accept the error message when the electronics and software struggle to read the data when it's changing rapidly.
Yes the trend arrows can be extremely misleading, I always go by the minute by minute value dots on xdrip graph and make my own mind up.
 

jaywak

Well-Known Member
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742
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
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Cold weather, angry people, queues,
I guess by normal you mean what it would be with a non diabetic , which would be anything from 4 - 9 so in the middle at about 6 I would say would be the normal !
 

RobynV

Active Member
Messages
33
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
Diet only
What other apps work with Libre 2 plse -(besides Abbott LibreLink). I can’t download LL bcz I am in Oz and iPhone is uk. I can get uk version potentially (use VPN?)but that won’t work with Abbott supplied device here.
 

Westley

Well-Known Member
Messages
194
Type of diabetes
Type 1
I guess by normal you mean what it would be with a non diabetic , which would be anything from 4 - 9 so in the middle at about 6 I would say would be the normal !
Dr Bernstein says after checking many healthy non diabetic young adults he found their typical non mealtime blood sugar was around 4.6 mmol/l (83 mg/dL).
 

Westley

Well-Known Member
Messages
194
Type of diabetes
Type 1
What other apps work with Libre 2 plse -(besides Abbott LibreLink). I can’t download LL bcz I am in Oz and iPhone is uk. I can get uk version potentially (use VPN?)but that won’t work with Abbott supplied device here.
I know Shuggah is popular, but I don't think it works with the Australian sensors. Maybe xDrip4iOS
On Android there are more options